Cantor Lifts IREN to $99 Even as Q1 Loss Swells Past $247 Million

The divergent signals coming from IREN are hard to ignore: one of Wall Street’s most bullish analysts just raised his price target to $99, yet the company’s latest quarterly results show a deepening loss and a balance sheet under strain from a costly pivot from bitcoin mining to AI infrastructure.

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brett Knoblauch reaffirmed his buy rating on the stock and lifted his target from $77 to $99, arguing that investors are underestimating the value of IREN’s future sellable capacity, particularly the megawatts expected online in 2027 and 2028. “The market is not fully pricing in the revenue potential from the capacity pipeline,” he wrote.

The market, however, took a more cautious view. After a volatile week that saw the stock surge on news of a $1.6 billion hardware agreement with Dell, profit-taking pushed shares down 0.89% on Friday to €54.50. That followed a 5.59% drop on Thursday. Since then, the stock has extended its decline, slipping another 3.6% to €53 as traders digested the company’s first-quarter financials.

IREN reported a net loss of $247.8 million for the fiscal first quarter, widening from $155.4 million a year earlier. Revenue fell to $144.8 million from $184.7 million, pressured by lower bitcoin prices and the gradual decommissioning of mining hardware to make room for GPU installations. The company’s cash reserves shrank from $3.26 billion to $2.21 billion, with $1.48 billion plowed into capital expenditures during the quarter alone.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying IREN?

The one bright spot was the AI cloud segment, where revenue climbed to $33.6 million from $17.3 million in the prior quarter. But that figure remains a fraction of the billions IREN is targeting in the years ahead.

The catalyst for the week’s initial rally was an agreement with Dell Technologies to purchase air-cooled Blackwell systems for approximately $1.6 billion. The hardware will be deployed at IREN’s existing data center campus in Childress, Texas, with commissioning slated for early 2027. The purchase is tied to a previously announced five-year managed services contract for AI cloud services valued at $3.4 billion. IREN expects the contract to lift its annualized run-rate revenue from $3.7 billion to $4.4 billion once the systems are operational.

Crucially, IREN has cautioned that this figure is not fully contractual. It is based on internal assumptions about GPU models, utilization rates, and pricing, and includes expected average revenue from its Microsoft deal, the $3.4 billion AI cloud contract, and estimated ARR from planned GPU deployments in British Columbia and Childress. The company acknowledged that actual results may differ.

IREN at a turning point? This analysis reveals what investors need to know now.

Technically, IREN’s stock closed Friday well above its 50-day moving average of €40.43 and its 200-day average of €38.15, but remains 18% below its 52-week high of €66.51 set in early November. The week’s trading range established near-term support at €50–€52 and resistance around €58.

The next major test for IREN will be execution in Childress. If the Blackwell systems arrive on schedule and the AI cloud ramp begins as planned, the gap between promise and revenue could narrow. Any delay beyond early 2027, however, would likely deepen the risk premium the market is already assigning to the stock.

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IREN Stock: New Analysis - 30 May

Fresh IREN information released. What's the impact for investors? Our latest independent report examines recent figures and market trends.

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